Machine for forming, shaping, hardening, and tempering metal blanks.



No. 69|,253. Patented Ian. l4, I902.

E. E. FAY.

MACHINE FOR FORMING, SHAPING; HARDENING,AND TEMPERING METAL BLANKS.

(Application filed Apr. 10, 1901.

(No Model.)

mammqmo) 2 ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDGAR E. FAY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR FORMING, SHAPING, HARDENING, AND TEMPERING METAL BLANKS.

SPECIFICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent No. 691 ,253, dated January 14, 1902.

Application filed April 10, 1901. Serial No. 55,152. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR E. FAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Forming, Shaping, Hardening, and Tempering Metal Blanks, of which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention'relates to machines for forming, shaping, hardening, and tempering metal blanks; and it has for its object to provide an improved machine of this class which will be particularly adapted for the manufacture of shoe-shank stifieners, but which will be capable of turning out a wide variety of integral sheet-metal devices by the provision of parts of predetermined relative construction, arrangement, and association.

The present invention constitutes an improvement upon the subject-matter of a prior patent granted to me March 21, 1893, and bearing the number 493,860; and it consists in the improved and efficient formation and association of parts hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail vertical sectional view taken through the shaping-rollers. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective View of a completed shoeshank stifiener which constitutes the product of the form of my improved machine illustrated. T

Corresponding parts in all the figures are denoted by the same reference characters.

Referring with particularity to the drawings, 1 designates my improved machine, which comprises, primarily, continuous-feed means 2, severation and perforation means 3, an endless carrier 4, heating means 5, shaping' means 6, cooling means 7 and tempering means 8. The stock is fed continuously to the severation and perforation means 3 by the feed means 2, and thence passes as severed blank units onto the endless carriert, which is continuously operated in a constant direction to subject the blank units successively andv in the order named to the heating means 5, the shaping means 6, the hardening means 7, and the tempering means 8. The

intermediate of said axes.

blank units after tempering are advanced by the endless carrier to a point of deposit.

The path of the endless carrier cuts the plane of the shaping means at one point, and when, as illustrated, said shaping means consist of shaping-rollers the endless carrier cuts the plane of the axes of the shaping-rollers The shaping means and the endless carrier are suitably formed and operatively associated to permit of the above relative arrangement of parts, which relative arrangement of parts enables one carrier to both advance the work to and withdraw the work from the shaping means.

In the preferred form of construction the feed means 2 consist of a pair of verticallyarranged feed-rollers 9, which are positively operated in opposite directions and are spaced apart sufficiently to receive the stock between the same and at the same time positively grip the stock and advance it to the severation and perforation means 3. The stock is fed to the machine in the form of a fiat Wire, ribbon, or strip 10, which is initially coiled upon a drum 11, which is mounted in suitable standards 12, which latter are arranged adjacent the feed-rollers 9. The sevoration and perforation means 3 consists of a vertically-reciprocating punch 13, which operates with respect to a bed-plate 14, over which the stock is fed. The punch is provided with a lateral severation member 15, which operates transversely of the stock to divide the same into the blank units 16 and with spaced perforation members 17, which perforate each blank unit at a point adjacent each end of the same, as at 18. The perforation members 17 are arranged at opposite edges of the operative face of the punch. The bed-plate 14 is formed into a suitable die to receive the severation and perforation members of the punch. 1

The endless carrier 4 in the preferred form of construction consists of two endless link belts 19', which are arranged in parallel vertical planes of movement and are relatively spaced in proportion to the transverse dimension of the stock, whereby the latter may be firmly supported in the advancing movement of the carrier. The link bolts 19 are operatively mounted upon sprocket-wheels 21, of

which there are two series, 21 and 21*, respectively, each of which consists of two of said sprocket-wheels fixed to a common trans verse shaft 22, whereby each of the link belts is supported upon one wheel of each of the said series and both link belts may be operated in fixed relation or step. The shafts 22 are mounted in vertical standards 23. One of the series of sprocket wheels--namely, 2l is arranged beneath the bed-plate 14 of the punch 13, which latter is provided with a projecting ledge 24, which overlaps the endless carrier at one end of the latter, whereby the blank units may be fed directly onto the carrier after severation from the stock. Each of the link belts 19 is provided with a plurality of vertical spaced fingers 25, which project upwardly when the link belts are in their upper phase of movement. The blank units 16 are received between the fingers 25 and positively advanced by the same.

The heating means 5 consists of a heatingfurnace 26, which may be of any preferred type, and through the heating-chamber of which the link belts 19 pass intheir upper phase of movement.

The shaping means 6 consist of two shaping-rollers 27 and 28, which are journaled in suitable standards 29 and are arranged in parallel vertical arrangement. The operative peripheries of the rollers 27 and 28 are formed to supplement and fit one the other in contour and conformation, whereby each blank-unit 16 in passing between the same is shaped into the desired product. In the construction illustrated the periphery of the roller 27 is provided with a central bulbous zone, and the periphery of the roller 28 is provided with a corresponding contracted zone. Each of the rollers 27 and 28 is provided with end gudgeons or bearings 27, whereby it is journaled in the standards 29, and the link belts 19 pass between said end gndgeons and between the ends of the rollers and the standards.

The cooling and hardening means 7 may consist, as illustrated, of an oil bath, which is maintained by an oil-supply pipe 30, which discharges above the plane of the path of the upper phase of movement of the link belts 19, whereby the discharging oil may fall directly upon the endless carrier. A suitable receptacle 31 is arranged beneath the advancing blanks to receive the down-flowing oil. The supply-pipe 30 and the receptacle 31 may be supported bya bracket or frame 32, which is arranged at one side of the endless carrier.

The tempering means 8 preferably consist of a heating-furnace 33, which is similar to the heating-furnace 26, and through the heating-chamber of which the link belts 19 pass in their upper phase of movement.

The several movable parts of my improved machine may be operated by a power-shaft 34 and operative connections 35, 36,v 37, and 38, respectively, between the same and the feed-rollers 9, the punch 13, and the shaft 22 harden-ing and tempering operations.

of the series 21 of sprocket-wheels 21, and the shaping-rollers 27 and 28. By these means the feed-rollers, the punch, the link belts, and the shaping-rollers are continuously operated in the directions described, and indicated by the several arrows.

The operation and advantages of my improved machine for forming, shaping, hardening, and tempering metal blanks will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which it appertains. The stock is continuously supplied by the drum 2 in the form of a strip, ribbon, or wire of width sufficient to form the blank unit, this width being in the construction illustrated equivalent to the length of the shoe-shank stiffener which constitutes the product of the machine. The stock is initially gripped by the feed-rollers 9, which feed the samecontinuonsly to the severation and perforation punch 13, the severation member 15 of which severs the stock transversely into the blank units 16, and the perforation members 17 of which form the perforations 18in the ends of the blank units. The advancing stock pushes each severed blank unit across the ledge 24 of the bedplate 14 of the punch 13 and thence onto the endless carrier4 and between two of the projecting fingers 25 upon each of the link belts 19. To insure a positive and even deposit of the blank units upon the link belts, the ledge 24 of the bed-plate may be slotted, as at 24*, to permit the upward and forward passage of the fingers 25 with the link belts following a path of movement directly beneath saidledge. The link belts initially carry the blank unit through the heating-furnace 26, which prepares the same for the shaping operation, which is performed by the shaping=rollers 27 and 28. Passing between these rollers the blank unit is given a central curvature by compression between the bulbous and contracted central portions of the respective rollers. The link belts pass freely between the end gudgeons or bearings of the rollers 27 and 28. Immediately subsequently the blank unit is subjected to the cooling and hardening influence of the flow of oil from the supply-pipe 30 and is thus prepared for tempering in the heating-furnace 33, which imparts the proper temper to the blank unit and finishes the same in completed product form, which is then conveyed by the link belts to a point of deposit.

It will be noted that the blank unit is formed, shaped, and hardened and tempered in a continuous and unbroken succession of the several operations, the stock which is positively drawn from the-drum 11 by the feed-rollers 9 serving to push the severed blank units forwardly over the ledge 24 of the bed-plate of the punch as fast as they are formed. The endless carrier then receives the blank units and positively advances the same during the heating, shaping, cooling, or The blank units are maintained in proper position upon the link belts by the fingers 25, and the employment of guides to center the blank units upon the link belts, while under certain circumstances of advantage, is not ordinarily necessary, and the same are therefore not illustrated. It is manifest that the proportions of the several parts and members of the machine may be varied to compensate for variations in the dimensions of the blanks which it is desired to form and operate upon by the same and also to permit the simultaneous passage ofa plurality of blanks through the machine.

The entire machine is relatively simple in construction, positive in operation, and capable of a large output of finished product per given time unit. I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to the specific form and arrangement of parts as shown and described, as itis manifest that I may considerably modify and vary the same in adapting my improvements to varying conditions of use. I therefore reserve the right to all such variations and modifications as shall fall within the scope of my invention and the terms of the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In an improved machine of the class described, means for feeding the stock, a punch for severing the blank units from the stock, said punch being provided with a projecting bed-plate, and an endless carrier which passes in one phase of its movement beneath said bed-plate whereby the blank units may be directly successively and positively fed to the same by the feed movement of the stock.

2. In an improved machine of the class described, means for feeding the stock, severation means for severing the blank units from the stock, an endless carrier onto which the blank units are successively and positively fed by the feed movement of the stock, and shaping means to which the blank units are advanced and from which the blank units are withdrawn by the endless carrier.

3. In an improved machine of the class described, shaping means, and means for advancing the work to and withdrawing the work from said shaping means consisting of an endless carrier which is operatively associated with said shaping means.

4. In a machine of the class described,means for feeding the stock, severation means for severing the blank units from the stock, an endless carrier onto which the blank units are severing the blank units from the stock, an-

endless carrier onto which the blank units are fed by the feed movement of the stock, said endless carrier consisting of two spaced endless link belts, standards between which said link belts move, and shaping-rollers provided with end bearings which are journaled in said standards and between which the blank units are fed by the endless link belts, said link belts being accommodated in their movement between said end bearings and between the ends of said rollers and said standards.

6. In a machine of the class described,means for feeding the stock, severation means for severing the blank units from the stock, an endless carrier onto which the blank units are fed by the feed movement of the stock, said endless carrier consisting of two spaced endless link belts, a heating-furnace through the heating-chamber of which said link belts pass, and shaping-rollers between which the blank units are fed by said link belts, said shapingrollers being provided with spaced bearings between which said link belts are accommodated in their movement.

7. In an improved machine of the class described, shaping-rollers, and means for advancing the work to and withdrawing the work from said shaping-rollers; said means consisting of an endless carrier the path of movement of which at one point cuts the plane in which lie the axes of said shapingrollers, and intermediate of said axes.

8. In an improved machine of the class described, shaping-rollers provided with spaced end bearings, and an endless carrier whereby the work is advanced to and withdrawn from the shaping-rollers; said endless carrier con sisting of spaced members which pass between the end bearings of said shaping-rollers.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name in the presence of the subscribingwit- IIGSSGS.

EDGAR E. FAY. Witnesses:

RAYMOND I. BLAKESLEE, J. M. HOOTOR. 

